As background for this invention, reference may be had to U.S. Pat. application Ser. No. 12/459,800, filed Jul. 8, 2009, in the names of Zachary Bednarz et al., and assigned to the same assignee as this application, now U.S. Pat. No. 8,307,524, issued Nov. 13, 2012. Reference may be had to corresponding European Patent Application Publication No. EP 2272623, published Jan. 12, 2011. Reference may also be had to U.S. Pat. No. 7,144,543, issued Dec. 5, 2006 to Schwaiger et al.
The present invention results for the appreciation that the growth of windows made from extruded PVC has expanded greatly and now make up over 60% of all windows sold in North America with a total unit count of over 40 million units on an annual basis. Window manufacturers either extrude their own profiles made from PVC (Poly Vinyl Chloride) to produce the profiles needed to make an actual window or they buy the profiles from a extrusion company that provides turn-key programs that provide all the needed profiles also known as shapes. Most window manufacturers or extruders that provide turn-key systems to fabricators have several hundred different dies due to the fact that each company that manufactures windows and specialty doors, like patio doors, have a complete product line comprised of up to a dozen window and door types and all these lines have the ability to be customized with various extruded components to make the window or door adapt to the type of substrate it will be mounted into. The end result is literally hundreds of profiles running in each facility that produces profiles for windows and doors.
A recent trend is to reduce labor and create a better performing window or door is to install the weatherseal during the extrusion process as is described in the above-referenced U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/459,800. The profile is then cut into lengths and assembled with the weatherseal already in place making for a more cost effective and tighter window design due to the weatherseal being up tight to all corners and edges because it was cut in its final position and it does not have to be inserted into a finished window that would result in someone manually cutting and fitting each piece in place.
So with each extrusion facility having hundreds of dies extruding profiles to be used in windows and doors and with the actual weatherseal insertion operation now being incorporated into this extrusion process there can be a problem due to the fact that the actual fabricator will specify a wide range of weatherseal choices to differentiate or obtain the performance required for their window or door. Pile comes in numerous colors and can come in a range of heights from 0.100″ to 0.750″. Pile is also produced in a range of densities allowing the window and door fabricator to tweak the operating forces of their products by selecting from a low density weatherseal (lower closing and operating forces) to a very high density weatherseal (higher closing and operating forces). In short, there is an endless number of weatherseals that could be installed in these hundreds of profiles.
The result of all these profiles and weatherseal choices can be confusion and add to this the pace of work and the multilingual nature of the work force found in many of these extrusion facilities and a common problem can be the wrong weatherseal being inserted in the wrong profile. This error is costly and if not caught in the extrusion facility several window or doors could be made and reach the market and be installed and not function properly for the consumer either by not operating properly or excessive air and water infiltrating the home, increasing energy costs at a minimum or damaging the interior of the structure at a maximum.